Lesbian Mistaken for Man Kicked Out of Boston Hotel Restroom
The Liberty Hotel has since suspended a security guard and promised to better train its staff on "inclusive practices."
On Saturday, May 3, Ansley Baker and her girlfriend, Liz Victor, attended a Kentucky Derby party at The Liberty Hotel in Boston when they dipped out for a bathroom break.
Despite both identifying as cisgender women, Baker’s more masculine-presenting appearance triggered visitors present at the hotel, including a male security guard, who banged on the bathroom stall door, demanding Baker leave the women’s restroom.
“All of a sudden there was banging on the door,” Baker told CBS News. “I pulled my shorts up. I hadn’t even tied them. One of the security guards was there telling me to get out of the bathroom, that I was a man in the women’s bathroom. I said, ‘I’m a woman.'”
Nevertheless, the security guard escorted Baker out of the restroom, with other women who were waiting in line making transphobic comments at Baker and misgendering her.
“Someone said, ‘Get him out of here’ [and] ‘He’s a creep,'” she said, referring to the entire incident as “humiliating.”
The security guard then asked for the couple’s IDs to check their gender. Victor told CBS News that things grew heated at that point. She and Baker were ordered to leave the hotel.
The Liberty Hotel later said in a statement on Monday, May 5, that “several women” had alerted security of “two adults sharing a bathroom stall.” That statement claimed that one of the women had put their hands on the security guard, which led them to be kicked out of the hotel.
Baker and Victory deny ever being in the same stall.
“If that’s what he thought the issue was once he opened the stall door, obviously there was only one person in there, so it should’ve been case closed,” Victor said. “Let her tie up her shorts and go about her day.”
The next day, The Liberty Hotel said it had finished an investigation into the incident and had suspended the security guard. The hotel also claimed it would be retraining all staff on “inclusive practices and guest interaction protocols” and would be donating money to a local LGBTQ organization.
“The Liberty Hotel is and always will be an ally of the LGBTQ+ community and a place where everyone is welcome and celebrated,” the hotel said in a statement. “We will continue to educate and train of our team to ensure that everyone feels safe and accepted within our four walls and guests who do not show tolerance and acceptance towards others will be removed.”
Victor and Baker take issue with the hotel’s initial characterization of the incident.
“We have not seen any public statement with an apology nor a retraction of their original claims to clarify that Ansley was the only one in the stall,” the couple said in a statement.
Nina Selvaggio, executive director of Greater Boston PFLAG, attributed the couple’s treatment to increasing anti-transgender sentiment and backlash against gender nonconformity — regardless of a person’s sex or gender identity — more broadly within society.
“For gender nonconforming, lesbians, women in general, being harassed in public restrooms is a tale as old as time,” Selvaggio said. “I do think the surge in national anti-trans rhetoric is contributing to an increased policing of women’s bodies and their expression of gender.”
Baker and Victor shared their story with the media in the hope of making a difference.
Victor noted that the incident was a “very scary situation,” and said that trans women experience this same kind of treatment “every single day in the U.S. and across the world.”
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